Marijuana; legalization of simple possession; penalties. Eliminates criminal penalties for possession of marijuana for persons who are 21 years of age or older. The bill also modifies several other criminal penalties related to marijuana and provides for an automatic expungement process for those convicted of certain marijuana-related crimes. The bill establishes a regulatory scheme for the regulation of marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana manufacturing facilities, marijuana testing facilities, marijuana wholesalers, and retail marijuana stores by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, renamed as the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Control Authority. The bill imposes a tax on retail marijuana, retail marijuana products, and marijuana paraphernalia sold by a retail marijuana store, as well as non-retail marijuana and non-retail marijuana products at a rate of 21 percent and provides that localities may by ordinance levy a three percent tax on any such marijuana or marijuana products. The bill provides that net profits attributable to regulatory activities of the Authority's Board of Directors pursuant to this bill shall be appropriated as follows: (i) 40 percent to pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk three and four year olds, (ii) 30 percent to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, established in the bill, (iii) 25 percent to substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs, and (iv) five percent to public health programs. The bill creates the Cannabis Control Advisory Board, the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Board, and the Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023, with provisions for the Authority's Board of Directors to promulgate regulations for the implementation of the bill and for implementation of the automatic expungement process to begin in due course. In addition, the bill establishes three work groups to begin their efforts in due course: one focused on public health and safety issues, one focused on providing resources for teachers in elementary and secondary schools, and one focused on college-aged individuals. See H. B. 2312 General Laws Substitute PDF text:https://lis.virginia.gov/000/housecannabisbillsub.pdf See H. B. 2312 Courts of Justice Substitute PDF text:https://lis.virginia.gov/000/housecannabisbillsub2.pdf
Sponsored bills
Identification privilege cards; fee; confidentiality; penalties. Authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue identification privilege cards to applicants who hold a citizenship or legal presence status that is eligible for a special identification card or a limited-duration special identification card and have reported income from Virginia sources or been claimed as a dependent on an individual tax return filed with the Commonwealth in the preceding 12 months. The bill provides that identification privilege cards shall be treated as special identification cards unless otherwise provided in the Code of Virginia. The bill limits the release of certain information stored by the Department. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.
Automatic expungement of criminal records; penalties. Establishes a process for the automatic expungement, defined in the bill, of criminal records for certain convictions, deferred dispositions, and acquittals and for offenses that have been nolle prossed or otherwise dismissed. The bill also provides a process for the automatic expungement of criminal records for charges arising from mistaken identity or the unauthorized use of identifying information. The bill has staggered delayed effective dates in order to develop systems for implementing the provisions of the bill. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Constitutional amendment (first reference); franchise and officers; felon disenfranchisement; automatic restoration of political rights. Provides that no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote until the completion of his sentence of imprisonment, at which time, without further action required of him, his political rights, including the right to vote, shall be restored. A person convicted of a felony may also have his civil rights restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. This resolution incorporates HJ 546.
Employment; domestic service. Provides that individuals who are engaged in providing domestic service are not excluded from employee protection laws and the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
Public health emergency; emergency medical services agencies; real-time access to information. Directs the Department of Health to develop and implement a system for sharing information regarding confirmed cases of communicable diseases of public health threat with emergency medical services agencies in real time during a declared public health emergency related to a communicable disease of public health threat and with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board and regional emergency medical services councils upon request, in order to protect the health and safety of emergency medical services personnel and the public.
Regulation of child-care services in localities.Expands to include all cities the authority related to the regulationof child-care services that is currently available to certain NorthernVirginia localities. This will have the effect of granting all citiesauthority by ordinance to regulate child-care facilities that provideregular care to one or more children not related by blood or marriage.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; landlord remedies; noncompliance with rental agreement; payment plan; removal of sunset. Removes the sunset date of July 1, 2021, from certain provisions enacted during the 2020 Special Session related to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Such provisions (i) changed from five to 14 days the amount of time that a landlord who owns four or fewer rental dwelling units must wait after serving written notice on a tenant notifying the tenant of his nonpayment of rent and of the landlord's intention to terminate the rental agreement if rent is not paid before the landlord may pursue remedies for termination of the rental agreement; (ii) required a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units, or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units, before terminating a rental agreement due to nonpayment of rent, to serve upon such tenant a written notice informing the tenant of the total amount due and owed and offer the tenant a payment plan under which the tenant must pay the total amount due and owed in equal monthly installments over a period of the lesser of six months or the time remaining under the rental agreement; (iii) outlined the remedies a landlord has if a tenant fails to pay the total amount due and owed or enter into a payment arrangement within 14 days of receiving notice or if the tenant enters into a payment arrangement but fails to pay within 14 days of the due date any rent that becomes due under the payment plan or arrangement after such plan or arrangement becomes effective; and (iv) clarified that a tenant is not precluded from participating in any other rent relief programs available to the tenant through a nonprofit organization or under the provisions of a federal, state, or local law, regulation, or action.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; recordexclusion for personal contact information provided to a public body.Provides that personal contact information provided to a publicbody or any of its members for the purpose of receiving electroniccommunications from the public body or any of its members is excludedfrom the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA, unless the recipient of such electronic communications indicates his approval for thepublic body to disclose such information. Currently, the law providesprotections for personal contact information provided to a public body, not to its members; only applies to electronic mail; and requiresthe electronic mail recipient to request the public body not to disclose his personal contact information in order for the information to be exempt from mandatory disclosure. This bill is a recommendationof the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council.
Commonwealth Health Reinsurance Program. Requires the State Corporation Commission (Commission) to establish, upon approval of a state innovation waiver request pursuant to § 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, a reinsurance program, known as the Commonwealth Health Reinsurance Program (the Program). The bill provides that the Program is funded through federal funding provided under the state innovation waiver, an assessment on carriers, and state appropriations. The bill requires that the Commission impose an annual assessment of one percent of a carrier's net written premiums on entities authorized to issue individual and group health insurance overage including grandfathered plans but excluding plans offered in the small group market. The bill provides requirements for payment parameters, data submissions, recordkeeping, reporting, and audits of health carriers. The bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to develop recommendations for developing a state-based subsidy program to increase affordability of health plans to individuals and to increase enrollment in the Virginia Health Benefit Exchange. The bill requires the Commission to evaluate the program following its second year of operation.The provisions of the bill, other than the requirements that the Commission apply for the state innovation waiver, will become effective 30 days after notice of approval of the waiver request.